


Too Late

by Gayforswimmerz



Category: Free!
Genre: Blood, Cancer, Character Death, Leukemia, M/M, im sorry, really bad fic guys, why do all my fics have blood?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-30
Updated: 2014-11-30
Packaged: 2018-02-27 13:48:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2695271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gayforswimmerz/pseuds/Gayforswimmerz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In all of his sixteen years, the silver haired boy had barely done anything wrong, so when he got shocking news...he didn’t know what he had done to deserve it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Too Late

**Author's Note:**

> its terrible its so so terrible that it sucks eggs like wow
> 
> i thought 'wow Nitori is such a cutie...lets put him in pain'  
> so sorry

Seijuurou gazed across the lanes of the pool at Samezuka academy, smiling slightly as he watched many teams fly through the water and kicking almost perfectly (their legs were bending slightly but on the way to perfection.)

 Although, while many teams were complete with the four swimmers needed, one team was lacking a swimmer. The Captain’s smile faltered at this, because no one had called in ill nor had anyone asked to be excused. ‘Where...?’ he thought absentmindedly as his golden eyes swept the stands only to find a head of silver hair belonging to a young sixteen year old.

“Nitori!” he called, concern dripping over his tone, “Can you come here for a second?!”

 Nitori frowned slightly as he slowly lifted himself up from the bench and hobbled over to the Captain with an unsure smile playing on his slightly chapped lips.

 “Yes, Captain?” he asked as he finally made it over to the redhead.

“No training today...your team needs you to train.” He frowned, trying to look into the smaller boy’s light blue eyes but failing as the younger boy avoided them as if they were on fire and he was afraid of getting burnt.

“They understand...” his smile twisted into a small frown, “I just don’t feel up to it today I guess.”

Seijuurou stared down at the young boy as if he was trying to find the truth through his lies. He was quite pale, his cheeks losing all rosiness that they had once held, and his shoulders looked too narrow to sit on a healthy boy, his collar bone and shoulder blades were jutting out of his skin which made the captain fear that the sharp bones may puncture Nitori’s pale skin. Bruises were evident on his arms which made the older of the two fear that the poor boy was getting bullied, the bruises littered his arms and chest so much that it seems Nitori may be turning into a dalmation.

Giving up, the red head sighed. “Okay then, but I hope to find you in the pool tomorrow.”

Nitori smiled widely, the skin on his lips splitting slightly in its wake. “Thank you.” He crowed as he jumped slightly and walked back over to the benches, watching his team with a small smile.

Seijuurou noted that happiness was evident in the other's slight twinge of a smile, but another emotion was there and he couldn’t quite work it out.

 

\--

 

Nitori bit his lip in anticipation as he threw a cloth over his desk that he had (with much difficulty) moved into the center of his room as well as cleaned, and in his current state it was not easy to do.

He was expecting his senpai back any minute; he had asked his roommate to have dinner with him after he got back from swimming with Haru and his other friends.

With a small sniff, the boy sat down on his chair at the table, adjacent to the door so when Rin walks through it, Nitori can smile and wave at his friend and then they can enjoy a nice night together.

Before the morning came...

 

\--

 

“Hey, Rin-chan?” Nagisa smiled from his place on Rei’s lap. “Didn’t you say you had to leave at five?” the blond asked, pointing up at a clock in Haru’s living room.

The group had been in the living room for a good thirty minutes, Rin had repeatedly reminded the group that he had to have dinner with Nitori at five thirty and that he had to leave at five to make time for walking.

Rin shook his head. “Nah, I’ll start out in a bit.” He nodded to himself, “Ai won’t mind waiting.”

“Are you sure?” Makoto asked as he placed his arm around Haru’s shoulders, “He won’t mind at all?”

“I’m sure he won’t mind if I’m a bit late.” Rin shrugged, picking another chip from out of the bowl on Haru’s coffee table.

Makoto gave Haru a worried glance; recently they had both seen the bruises on the silver haired boy’s skin as well as the hollowed cheeks and the shimmering light blue eyes that had lost all warmth in them like he had given up on something.

Overall, the pair had agreed that Nitori looked unhealthy.

“If you say so, Rin-chan.”  Nagisa smiled as he shifted slightly on Rei’s lap, making the blunette blush even more, earning him a smirk from the blond.

 

\--

 

Nitori whined slightly as he forced himself to stand, his legs were getting weaker and he needed to lie down.

“Rin-senpai will come soon.” He whimpered as his hand cupped his nose, lying on Rin’s bed; too weak to climb the ladder to his bed.

His nose bleeds had gotten more frequent over the week and he had quite a hard time hiding it from his roommate.  He didn’t want Rin to worry and he especially didn’t want him to find out anything about his condition.

With a small sniff, the boy tried to sit up against the wall so he could glance at the calendar across the room, tomorrows date displayed accompanied with a thunder cloud that he had drawn a couple of months before.

When he had gotten the news.

Nitori was angry at first. It’s as if he had been benched before he had even a chance to play the game, but as time progressed, he grew content with the news because he had grown to accept his fate. Obviously his parents were torn to shreds with the news because they blamed themselves. They blamed themselves because they couldn’t afford the treatment that their son so desperately needed, it was partly why he had detached himself from his family and why he hadn’t told them why tomorrow was so important.

He didn’t want to hurt them.

“Rin-senpai...” Nitori whispered dryly as he sleepily began to lie down on his roommate’s bed, breathing in the sweet, familiar scent of Rin.

Maybe he could have a nap before Rin arrives?

 

\--

“Hey!”

Rin halted in his tracks and turned around in the corridor to spot Seijuurou running down the hall to meet him, the captain was out of breath and soaked showing that he had just been swimming laps in the pool.

“Yes captain?” Rin asked, hoping that the older man would not beg for another chance to date his sister or whatever, he just couldn’t take it. All he wanted to do is sit down and rest with Nitori by his side as they talked about trivial things.

“Have you noticed anything up with Nitori lately?” The red head asked, rubbing his hair with the towel that was draped around his shoulders.

“Ai?” Rin asked with a shrug. “He’s been a bit under the weather lately, I admit but he said it was a cold.”

“So he’s not getting bullied?” Seijuro asked, raising an eyebrow at the shark toothed teen, zipping his jacket up quickly.

Rin frowned and shook his head. “He hasn’t said anything...”

“It’s just I noticed some bruises on his arms and chest during practice today.” The amber eyed man sighed, trying to regain his breath from his laps. “They’re pretty deep so it would probably be constant bullying if he is being picked on.”

Rin frowned deeper at the older man, his eyebrows narrowing in thought. Nitori had been acting weird lately but the small boy had just shrugged off any question linking to his behavior, he had broken once and told Rin it was just a cold and that it would go away soon. But that was months ago, obviously a cold wouldn’t have lasted that long.

He needed to speak to the boy and fast because if he was being bullied it needed to stop straight away because shark toothed boy couldn’t take the thought of his beloved Ai getting punched so much that he looks like a punching bag.

Rin would admit that, yes, the small boy was special to him. He is special enough for him to spend all his time thinking about the grey haired boy. He thought about kissing his adorable cheeks, underneath his eye over his beauty mark, listening to the boy as he giggled when Rin nuzzled into his neck, kissing him softly on his soft skin and leaving a different kind of bruise so no one would dare touch what was his. He thought about taking the silver haired sixteen year old out to dinner with his friends so he would no longer be the awkward fifth wheel on outings.

Ha had thought about the future. About how he and Nitori would someday buy an apartment together and how they would go to the pool together so Nitori could watch him train for the Olympics as he shouted encouragement from the sidelines.

His favourite thought was him getting gold in the Olympics and looking up into the crowd from his podium to see his husband smiling down at him with tears in his eyes.

A small smile spread onto Rin’s face as he thought over the fantasies that were swimming in his head, it made butterflies swarm around in his stomach making the heat of embarrassment flood into his cheeks.

Rin could never reveal his feelings for the boy. He was too scared that he would mess it up and ruin the amazing friendship he has with Nitori.   

“Just...look out for him, okay?” Seijuurou smiled slightly, tapping Rin’s shoulder to bring the boy out of his trance before walking down the hall, drying his hair as he went.

The teenager nodded to himself before walking down the hall to his door, fishing out his key from his back pocket. Suddenly, Rin felt uneasy. He couldn’t explain why but his stomach seemed like it had plummeted, his heart seemed to have frozen...maybe he caught Nitori’s cold?

Turning the key in the lock and hearing a ‘click’, the teen pushed the door open quietly, hoping to catch Nitori asleep at his desk or something so he could surprise him.

But instead he found candles that had melted down to the stand with red wax spilling over the table cloth that lay on Nitori’s desk. The small trickles of blood wax reached two plates that held two cold meals.

He was late.

Turning his head, he spotted a messy collection of silver hair on his bed.

Of course Nitori had fallen asleep while waiting for him. The teenager shook his head at his own actions; he was too late for dinner now...he should have left earlier.

“Ai?” Rin whispered softly as he dropped his bag to the floor quietly, making his way over to the bed. “Ai?” He knelt down next to the bed, slowly letting his arm reach out and softly stroke the boy’s shoulder before shaking him slightly. Rin hoped the boy was still hungry; he could probably take the boy out for dinner as an apology. Maybe he could hint that with him taking him out was a date? Rin shook his head; he’d mess it up in some way or another.

“Ai?” He tried again, a little louder to try and pull the boy out of his sleep.

Now, Nitori had been tired as of late but he had always been a light sleeper.

“Ai?” Rin tried again, speaking at normal volume now.

He began to shake the boy harder; gripping his roommate’s clothes with his hands getting whiter and whiter has his grip increased in frustration.

“Ai...” he whispered, getting up to sit on the bed sideways.

He reached for the boy’s pale face that was hidden in the messy pillows and blankets. Nitori’s body was twisted in a way that couldn't be comfortable, his legs were splayed apart and his hips were twisted so his torso was facing down. One of his hands was limp by his face, palm facing downwards while the other was buried under his body.

“Ai...” Rin repeated as he shakily turned the boy over so that he was lying on his back.

There was blood everywhere.

The red liquid was all over Nitori’s pale face, crusted and dried over his lips and in his nostrils, painting a grotesque crimson river. His hand that lay limp by his parted lips was also encrusted with blood, his clothes too held some of the liquid, showing how much he bled out.

There was blood on Rin’s blanket as well, making the blanket stiff with a thick metallic scent.

“Ai!?” Rin screeched as he moved onto the bed, kneeling over Nitori so he could gently tap the boy’s cheek, not even caring that some half dried blood had spread from the corner of Nitori’s mouth onto his hand.

“Ai! Please wake up!” Rin whimpered, reaching down to the boy’s frail wrists to check for a pulse.

The wrist was cold. So terribly cold that Rin didn’t need to look for a pulse because he already knew...

It was then that Rin finally held Nitori the way he had dreamed about for a long time, he pulled the limp boy onto his lap, pushing his head under his own, wincing when his hot skin was met with Nitori’s frozen skin.

It shouldn’t be like this. Ai should be laughing and smiling as Rin nuzzled his head with his cheek but he couldn’t have that now.

Rin was shaking out of control; his tears were cascading down his face like a rain storm that would never seem to end.

“Ai...” He whispered into the boy’s hair as he ran his shaking fingers through the silver tresses. “Ai...please...”

He didn’t dare look into the boy’s eyes because he knew he would find pain and sadness and those two emotions didn’t deserve to be in the eyes that Rin adored. That Rin thought about each day and silently watched as happiness and love fled into them.

He couldn’t watch them anymore because he had messed up.

 

 

\--

 

They found Rin cradling Nitori against his chest, rocking back and forth as he kissed the boy’s forehead lovingly. His tears hadn’t stopped; they had slowly mixed in with Nitori’s blood that was now drying on Rin’s cheeks and lips.

“Rin-“ Seijuurou began.

“I thought it was a test.” Rin’s voice croaked, strained from his whimpers and shrieks that had first alarmed the captain from his room down the hall. “The little thunder cloud on his calendar...but it wasn’t...it wasn’t...” He shook his head, frowning when he felt the slight tickles of Nitori’s hair against his cheeks, digging into the cracks of the dried blood and pulling them at them roughly.

“Oh my G...” Seijuro breathed out shakily, placing a hand over his mouth in shock as he saw the limp boy that was lying in Rin’s arms. “Rin, we need an ambulance.”

“Too late.” Rin rocked back and forth, “He’s gone.”

 

 


End file.
